Finding out your flights before Viking sends them to you

[longterm]

I decided to add Air+ so that we could get a particular routing that we preferred to our upcoming river cruise; the person on the phone wouldn't (or couldn't) tell me what flights we were already assigned, so I had to spring for the $200 for my wife and me, and then was given the # to Air+ (which I now have for next time). 

 

Once I reached Air+, having duly paid my $200, the agent told me we were already on the outbound flight route that I was going to request, and the inbound was almost as good as what I had also selected. Since we haven't gotten an email yet with our flight information, I didn't know they'd already assigned flights to us.

 

So, I asked to refund Air+ (which they will do if you find that they can't get you something you requested). But, because this trip is assigned to a TA, I have to get them to refund the money to us. I was told that I can UPGRADE my trip myself, but I can't DOWNGRADE it--only the TA can do that. Interesting.

 

SO, the lesson I learned, and now that I have the direct Air+ phone number (877-523-0580), is that I'll call Viking Air+ 6 months or so out and see what our flights will be; if they aren't what we want, I'll then call back and add Air+, then call Air+ back (yes, it has to be done that way, apparently). The question is whether Air+ will even tell us anything if we don't have Air+ on our trip--even if they already have assigned flights for our trip.

 

Convoluted, but interesting. 

 

It's worth noting that, given many folks' disdain for Viking's air arrangements, they had us on the exact outbound flight that I would have chosen, and the inbound is also a one-stop route that is only a half-hour longer than the one I would've selected. I was pleasantly surprised!

 

[I apologize in advance that this topic isn't about dogs, jeans, wine lists, or Abba.]

[formernuke]

Interesting. I understand you didn't get an email, but where the flights they had selected not listed on MVJ air section? I would have assume they would have showed there as soon as something was selected (even if not ticketed)

[TayanaLorna]

Beware that your flights could change unless they are ticketed.  Its my understanding that Viking does not ticket unless your trip is 60 to 100 days out UNLESS you have Air Plus.  If you have Air Plus you can request ticketing at any time.  However, if you find something you like better, then you pay a penalty to change.  You cannot select seats or purchase extra legroom ones unless you are ticketed.

[longterm]

41 minutes ago, formernuke said:

Interesting. I understand you didn't get an email, but where the flights they had selected not listed on MVJ air section? I would have assume they would have showed there as soon as something was selected (even if not ticketed)

Nope. 

[longterm]

11 minutes ago, TayanaLorna said:

Beware that your flights could change unless they are ticketed.  Its my understanding that Viking does not ticket unless your trip is 60 to 100 days out UNLESS you have Air Plus.  If you have Air Plus you can request ticketing at any time.  However, if you find something you like better, then you pay a penalty to change.  You cannot select seats or purchase extra legroom ones unless you are ticketed.

Yeah, he didn’t say whether we were actually ticketed; the cruise is on October 4th, so more than 5 months away, but he gave me inbound and outbound flight numbers. I didn’t think to ask if we were actually ticketed. 

[Clay Clayton]

FWIW, I had saved the Air+ number from a few years ago when we purchased it to up our chances on flying on the airline we had status with so we could upgrade (side note: it worked!) using certificates we had.  When friends traveling with us on our cruise in July leaving from Reykjavik booked they took advantage of an air promo for PE. After looking at flight possibilities, the only PE that made sense that Viking might book was either on Iceland Air or going to Europe and backtracking. 
 

Since others had reported that in previous years, Viking didn’t book Iceland Air’s Saga class as PE but instead as business, our friends decided if they were going to end up flying to London or Paris and then back to a Iceland they would just as soon not use Viking Air.  They were discussing buying Air+ and asking about when the flights would show up on MVJ.   I suggested that they call the number I have and play dumb and ask what flights they were expecting to be booked on.  The Air+ agent gave them the confirmation numbers for both directions and they have now Pre-selected their seats.  
 

of course YMMV. 

[TayanaLorna]

3 hours ago, longterm said:

Yeah, he didn’t say whether we were actually ticketed; the cruise is on October 4th, so more than 5 months away, but he gave me inbound and outbound flight numbers. I didn’t think to ask if we were actually ticketed. 

If you really like your flights, ask them to ticket you and get your ticket numbers.  Then you can choose your seats.

[Peregrina651]

On 4/10/2023 at 1:03 PM, TayanaLorna said:

You cannot select seats

 

Not always true. On our last trip (to Egypt) I chose seats when I chose the flights about 8 months out. The flights were not ticketed until about 75 days out.

 

Over the course of my experience booking through Viking I have found that some airlines will not let you choose seats in advance if you are on code-sharing flight and have not booked with them as the operating airline. Other airlines charge a fee to chose seats in advance (or at least they did pre-Covid). Just another reason that I pay the AirPlus fee and choose flights 8 months in advance -- but I do wait on the ticketing.